Test Setup

Test Setup

AMD's A-series processors are aimed at the mainstream and with the top model, the A8-3850 going for US$135, we were scrambling to find suitable comparisons from existing AMD and Intel processors. AMD itself says that the A8-3850 will compete directly against Intel's Core i3-2100, which is a Sandy Bridge dual-core processor running at 3.1GHz, with HyperThreading support. It has Intel HD Graphics 2000 along with a lower price of US$125 and a lower 65W TDP. Unfortunately, it's not a model that we have in our lab and hence we had to make do with the Core i5-2400, which is a quad-core 3.1GHz processor going for US$190.

Obviously, it's not the best of comparisons, which is why we also included older processors like the previous generation, Clarkdale, Core i3-550 and 530, which costs around US$125 and US$113 respectively. Since the A8-3850 is based on the Phenom II architecture, we also included a couple of Athlon II X4 processors, which are similar quad-core processors of around the same price range - the Athlon II X4 645 costs $105. Just think of these Athlon II X4 processors as Llano without the integrated graphics.

Check the lists below for the actual test configurations for each architecture. As usual, we'll test all processors with the same discrete graphics card to get a gauge of its general CPU capability, but we will also test the integrated graphics separately. It's the reason why we included an Intel H67 system.